British expel Russian diplomats over actions taken against ex-spys in the UK….

British Prime Minister Theresa May announced the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats and other measures in response to the nerve agent attack on ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter on British soil. She told the House of Commons today that “there is no alternative conclusion” other than Russia’s culpability for the attack.

Why it matters: May’s statement marks a huge escalation in tensions between the U.K. and Russia — especially as she chose to mention Russian President Vladimir Putin by name. She had notably harsh language for Russia’s handling of the situation, saying that the Kremlin had “demonstrated complete disdain” for the attack and that Russia ” treated the use of a military-grade nerve agent in Europe with contempt, sarcasm, and defiance.”

Many of us looked at a post-Soviet Russia with hope. We wanted a better relationship, and it is tragic that President Putin has chosen to act in this way.

Who is STILL hiding something about the Russian’s and himself that a lot of us feel compromises his view of them….

President Trump is either totally compromised by the Russians or is a towering fool, or both, but either way he has shown himself unwilling or unable to defend America against a Russian campaign to divide and undermine our democracy.

That is, either Trump’s real estate empire has taken large amounts of money from shady oligarchs linked to the Kremlin — so much that they literally own him; or rumors are true that he engaged in sexual misbehavior while he was in Moscow running the Miss Universe contest, which Russian intelligence has on tape and he doesn’t want released; or Trump actually believes Russian President Vladimir Putin when he says he is innocent of intervening in our elections — over the explicit findings of Trump’s own C.I.A., N.S.A. and F.B.I. chiefs….

Full text of the Prime Minister’s statement to the House of Commons yesterday (Tues 14 March), with responses from opposition leaders and back-bench members of all parties, here (UK House of Commons Hansard, equivalent to The Congressional Record) [from 12:39 p.m. to 2:25 p.m., 14 March 2018, Volume 637, columns 855 to 885]